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Lowell task force to target crime sites

By Lyle Moran, lmoran@lowellsun.com

Updated:
01/21/2013 06:36:32 AM EST

LOWELL -- City Manager Bernie Lynch has convened a task force charged with targeting city properties frequently home to crime and those with a history of code violations to prevent them from dragging down Lowell's neighborhoods.

The city's "Problem Properties Task Force," created at the City Council's urging, will share existing information on properties requiring extra attention and develop criteria for buildings to be considered problems.

The group of representatives from a wide swath of city departments will then identify potential enhanced enforcement actions to try to limit crime at such addresses and have code violations rectified.

Enforcement actions against identified properties could include increased fines for violations of city ordinances, increased police presence at the location, and expedited and prioritized tax-title foreclosure proceedings.

"Once a problem is identified, members will work cooperatively to create innovative and effective solutions," Lynch wrote in a memo announcing the initiative. "We believe this alliance of departments will provide great benefits for Lowell's neighborhoods."

The task force will be chaired by assistant to the city manager Henri Marchand and will hold its first meeting within the next two weeks.

Representatives from the city's Development Services, police, fire, law, treasury, Management Information Systems, Neighborhood Services and LowellStat departments will be part of the force.

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City Councilor Marty Lorrey, who last October suggested the city establish a problem property task force like Boston's, said he is thrilled the city administration was following through on his proposal.

Lorrey said he is particularly pleased the city will be coming up with specific criteria for what constitutes a problem property and there will be set enforcement actions the city will be able to take against them. Owners may even start trying to fix problems on their own to prevent the city from stepping in, he said.

"I think the properties really having issues will be identified sooner and corrective action will come sooner, which will be great for the integrity of the neighborhoods," Lorrey told The Sun. "It also eliminates any guesswork so property owners will know why they are being targeted."

Dave Ouellette, the leader of the Acre neighborhood group ACTION, said he is excited about the task force because it will allow the city to hold landlords accountable for the actions of their tenants.

He said two rooming houses on Cabot Street, across the street from his home, have been problem properties for years, but little progress has been made on reducing crime at the properties even when the tenants change.

Ouellette is hopeful the new task force will lead to a decline in issues at those buildings and others across the city.

"With limited city funds, we should not be using funds on the same houses over and over again," said Ouellette, who also is the code inspector charged with reducing illegal dumping in the city. "I think this task force has great potential to make sure landlords don't let problems at their properties continue on."

Lorrey said he thinks the guidelines Boston has adopted for identifying problem properties could be a good place for Lowell's force to start.

In Boston, a problem property is defined as one that has had a combined four or more calls or complaints made against it in the preceding year to the Police Department for criminal offenses, to Inspectional Services for unsanitary conditions, or complaints to the commission that handles noise issues.

In its first year of operation, Boston's task force investigated 144 properties, and named 18 of them problem properties, according to its first annual report released last September. The city's focus on those properties led to a 55 percent reduction in police calls related to them.

Boston also posts its problem properties on the city website, a move Lowell does not have plans to adopt at this time, but one that could be considered by the task force as a potential tool, according to Lynch.

Lowell will also continue its myriad efforts already under way to address properties blighting city neighborhoods, such as running its receivership program, enforcing its vacant and foreclosing property ordinance and deploying police resources to target areas.

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